SEARCH WARRANT, REJECT ALMOST IDENTICAL WARRANTS IN DOPE CASES
numerous ? persons
charged with narcotics violations
in Lenoir County hi the past
year reveals some remarkable
contradictions. -i- ’^; ■ * -
Consider the case d Jimmy
Harold Branch, Case No. 0240,
in which the search warrant that
led to his arrest was made out
in the name of Iindsey T. Park
er, whq is described as “a col
ored man, wearing blue jeans
and driving a cream colored
1964 Cadillac, License No. Nortt
Carolina FE-1572,” an this
search warrant authorized the
issuing officer, Deputy Carl Long
to exercise the search “on any
street of the City of Kinston.”
Under this search warrant is
sued fo Iindsey T.' Parker
Jimmy Harold Branch was ar
rested, arraigned, tried, convict
ed and sentenced to a term of
two years in prison which he is
now serving. This was done un
der the supervision of Superior
Court Jucjge William Copeland.
Yet this same judge turned
James Allen Powell and Bobby
Roach footloose and fancy free
because of what hie termed flaws
in the search warrants which did
not establish the reliability of
the informer.
The affidavit on the search
warrant used in the arrests of
Powell and Roach said: “this
informer has given information
in the, year 1970, August, where
narcotics drugs were found, seiz
. ed and arrests made. This in
former in the past has proven
to be true and he is worthy of
belief.’”
Yet this month when Judge
Walter Cahoon was turning dope |
pushers loose on the thinnest of
pretexts he threw out the search
warrant under whic Calvin Hicks
and Linda Faye Johnson has been
arrested) on heroin possession
charges, despite the fact that
the affidavit pertaining to the
informer on this warrant stated:
“'Based on information from a
confidential and reliable inform
er, who has personal knowledge
that narcotic drugs have been
on the above premises and are
on the premises now. This in
former has furnished us with in
formation in June 1970 where
narcotics drugs were found, ar
est was made. This informer
has given information in the
year 1970, August, where narcot
ic drugs were found, drugs seiz
ed, arrests-made. This inform
er’s information in the past has
proven to be true and he is
worthy of belief.”
NUMBER 35
TRENTON, N. CU THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1971
VOLUME xvm
Supreme Court's Schizophrenia Gives Running Fits to 25
Boards of County Commissioners and Many City Countils
by Jack Rider
The boards of county commis
sioners in 25 counties were hit
a vejy low Wow by the North
Carolina supreme court last
week, and they have not yet re-:
covered ftthn the force and sur-:
prise off this underhanded 4-to-3>
vote by the state’s highest court,;
which in that split voice saidi
the law under which those coun
ties were levying an additional:
one-cent sales tax was unconsti
tutional.
The tax which went into eSect;
on March 1, 1970, had been ap
proved by those 35 counties int
a referendum held in November'
1969, and the other 75 counties;
hadi turned the new source Qt ‘
local revenue down.
To give some notion of the
impact of this court derision
the Lenoir County budget fori
the present fiscal year (July 1,
1970 - June 30, 1971) had been;
brought into balance with an an
(ticipaltion of $500,000 to the
county treasury from that source.
County commissioners, of
course, were not the only offi
cials to suffer sudden shock
from this decision since all cor
porate communities in those 25
counties also were allocated
shares of this one-cent tax rev
enue, and to the city fathers of
Kinston this meant that a sud
den' $224,689 hole was torn in
the seat of their fiscal britches.
As soon as the mixed voice of
the supreme court was heard on
this vital issue legislators in
general and most especially those
whose districts included any of -
.the hard hit 25 counties began j
Dies irt Fire Sunday ]
Fifty seven year-old Bailey Hill j
suffered burns and fume inhale- ]
tion at about Noon Sunday from
» fire in his trailer home .on
Kinston route 3 which led to
drawing up legislation to bridge
Ehe gap these four supreme court
judges had dredged between sol
vency and insolvency for so
many governmental units.
With so may legislators Tun
ning in the same direction, but
at different gaits the weekend
confusion was 'even worse than
usual for the early days of a leg
islative session.
At the weekend officials of
the League of Municipalities and
the Association of County Com
missioners took the expected at
titude of waiting to see which
of these legislative fits was the
most feasible before these two
organizations would ask for a
helping push from their mem
bership.
Bender Reti res from
Road Commission
The State Highway Com
mission has announced that Mr.
E. T. Bender, Pollocks villa, re
tired on January 1, 1971, as
Tones County Maintenance Su
pervisor. Mr. Bender had been
employed by the Highway Com
mission for a total of 43 years
md was Maintenance Supervis
in' from 1962 until January 1,
L971
Mr. W. C. Jenkins, Jr. of Com
mit, is the new Road Mainten-i
ance Supervisor for Jones Coun
y. Mr. Jenkins has been em
iloyed by the Highway Commis
sion since 1939, having been
iromoted through the ranks. He
vill be in charge of road main
enance ip Jones County which
insists of 252 miles of paved
pads and 64 miles of unpaved
bads.
ONE JONES ARREST
Jones County Sheriff Brown
rates reports the following ar
est during the past week. Ben
imin F. Ward, of Trenton, was
rrested and charged with driv
ig under the influence.
The thin majority voice of
the court alleged and averred
that it was wrong for the state
o call for such a referendum, but
hinted that it might be different
if the counties bad made such
a mow an their own motion.
This ignored several legal facts
of life: one that since 1937 it
has been a State law that coun
ties canid hold elections on the
issue <of legal whisky stores,
which -were initially opened :in
Continued on page 8
VA Announces
Payments in -Jones
The “Veterans Administration
recently announced that estimat
ed expenditures Tor North Caro
lina for Fiscal 1970 totaled $211,
021,783 of which $289,644 was
for Jones County.
W. It. Phillips, Director of
the North Carolina “VA Regional
Office, said that the bulk of the
money was $131,721,221 in dis
ability compensation and pen
sion payments for North Caro
lina veterans — $213,388 for
Jones County veterans.
Other VA expenditures in Jones
County for Fiscal 1970, Phillips
said, were for GI Bill and other
VA education programs, $32,
782; and insurance and indemni
ties, $25,974.
Additional expenditures in
Jones County included direct
loans, $17,500.
THREE HURT IN WRECK
Cars driven by two KenansvUle
women collided at the intersec
tion on NC 11 at Odell HilT’s
store Saturday night at about
7:30 and three people suffered
minor injuries, Mrs. Brenda
Cole Sullivan- was driving one
car, and Mrs. Besse Jones Fai
son was driving the other. Mrs.
Sullivan and two passengers in
her car, Gayie Hatcher of Wil
mington and Amie Howard of
Pink Hill were the injured. Dam
age to the cars was estimated
at $1000 and Mrs. Faison was
charged with failing'to yield the
right of way.
. On the other hand 75 year-old
Tempie Moye of 427 Sampson
Street was arrested on evidence
obtained under a search warrant
no where near so specific about
•the “reliability” of the inform
er and she was tried, convicted,
and given a supended jail term,
fined $1000, put on probation
four years and ordered to sur
render her constitutional right
by pemitting offers to search her
home without warrant during
the period of her probation!
Donald Ray Edwards was con
victed and given 18 months in
prison under evidence obtained
with a search warrant no more
specific than the others that were
rejected. '
And the final straw that broke
the search warrant camel’s back
was that in which heroin and
marijuana were found on the
premises of Pete Gantenue and
James Becton at 312% East Cas
well Street.
Judge Cahoon tossed the evi
dence against this evil pair of
rats out because in one of the
three places on the search war
rant where the house address
was listed the street had been
left out and “312% Kinston, N.
C.” had been typed. Yet at
the top of that page “312%
East Caswell Street” was typed
clearly for all to see just under
the name of Pete Gatenue, and
on the face of the warrant once
more the address “312% Caswell
Street” was written in totally
legible handwriting.
Of course, the heaviest ham
mer wielded by either Copeland
or Cahoon was that which a
twice-indicted cab driver had a
heroin charge noli grossed with
leave without consultation with
the arresting officers and purely
on the strength of lies which the
defendant was telling the court
through his court appointed and
taxpayer paid lawyer, which lies
could not be rebutted by facts
in the case, simply because the
facts were available to the court
and were not requested.
Wide Assortment of Cases Cleared in
Friday Court Session; Appeals Filed ,
Last Friday a wide assortment i
of cases was cleared from the i
docket of Jones County District j
Court in one of the businest 1
sessions the court has ever had. t
Lendell W. Walton and Tom- 1
my Meadows both appealled to <
superior court after being found <
guilty of killing a dog belonging
to Henry Meadows and Jake I
Dawson also appealled to the ;
higher court after being con- <
victed of disorderly conduct and
two charges of assault with a
deadly weapon.
Mike Thompson and Willie
Williams were both given active
six - month prison terms for
stealing.
Steve Kinsey who was charg
ed with stealing a young wom
an’s pocketbook and possession
of marijuana had a noil pross
entered in the stealing charge
and the marijuana charge was
reduced to a misdemeanor
charge for which he was fined
$100 and court costs.
Richard Game paid the costs
for public drunkenness, as did
Charles Smith. ■
RecHess driving charges against ]
Jimmy and Johnny HaTgett were 1
noli pressed but in the same con
nection Mike Phillips was found
guilty of reckless driving, fol
lowing too closely and failure
to dim lights for which he had
his driving license lifted for 30
days and paid a $25 fine and
costs.
Johnny Hargett and J. N.
Kornegay were each fined $10
and costs for failure to list tax
es.
Jessie Daughety was found not
guilty of running a stop sign,
William E. Alphin had a prayer
for judgment entered in the kind
of charge.
A trespassing charge against
Robert Hill was noli prossed.
Edgar Burney was fined $100
and costs for drunken driving
and was granted a restricted
driving license for one year.
Eddie Cashwell paid the costs
for violating the inspection law
and Mollie Davis paid the costs
and a fine for speeding 70 miles
an hour in a 60-mile zone,
James Grady and Larry Mor
gan each had a six-month jail
term for stealing suspended on
payment of the court costs and
two year’s probation.
Bear Hunters Urged to Attend Meeting
Friday Night in New Bern's City Hall
Ways to save the state’s rapid
ly dwindling black bear popula
tion will be discussed in a meet
ing between bear hunters, con
servationists and the North Caro
lina Wildlife Resources Commis
sion.
The meeting will be at 7:30
P.M. in the New Bern City Hall
on Friday, January 29, and all
bear hunters and interested per
sons are urged to attend.
In recent weeks, the commis
sion met with bear hunters in the
western part of the state at Ashe
ville to discuss proposals for set
ting up a system of sanctuaries
for the black bear in eastern and
western parts of the state.
“This same program will be
presented to eastern bear hunt
ers at New Bern,” said Frank
Barick, Chief of the Division of
Game. “Nothing has been fully
set yet, but we’re trying to
plan programs to save the bear
that will be adopted later by
the commission, and we want
the state’s hunters to help hs.
'“Mainly, we’re looking for
Ideas,” continued Barick. "The
proposal to set up sanctuaries
seems to be a good way, but
we want to talk to hunters about
it. These sanctuaries, if they
are adopted, would be of suffic
ient size to provide bear hunt
ing with dogs in the surround
ing territory.”
Pollocksville Girl
On Dean's List
Dr. Robert F. Davidson, Dean
of St. Andrews Presbyterian Col
lege, Laurinburg, North Caro
lina, has announced the Dean’s
Last of students who achieved
high academic honor during the
Fall Term at St. Andrews. To
qualify for the honor of Dean’s
List, a student has to maintain
a certain grade point ratio on a
scalfe of 4.00 for “A’s”. For
underclassmen this average is
3.00, and for upperclassmen —
juniors and seniors — the min
imum is 3.25.
Among those named to this
honor is a Pollocksville student,
James Virgil Bender. A sopho
more# James is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. J. V. Bender of Pol
locksville.
.